ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith claps back at Jaylen Brown following Team USA snub
"Do I need to reveal my sources now? Is it not obvious now?"
Celtics star Jaylen Brown called out Nike on the social media platform X after Team USA announced it picked Derrick White over the reigning NBA Finals MVP to replace the injured Kawhi Leonard, who withdrew from 2024 Paris Olympics competition.
“@Nike this what we doing?” Brown wrote on X.
This prompted a response from ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who has engaged in a bit of a back-and-forth with Brown over some comments made on television during the show “First Take.”
Brown had worn a black t-shirt that read “State Your Source” during the Celtics championship parade last month, a reference to his disagreement with Smith over prior comments Smith made on the ESPN TV show First Take.
“Do y’all believe me now? Yo @FCHWPO, do I need to reveal my sources now? Is it not obvious now?” Smith wrote. “How in the hell is a $300M man — now a champion and an NBA Finals MVP— who’s clearly a top-two player on the @celtics and a Top-15 player in the world, NOT chosen for Team-USA? B/c his teammate NOT named Tatum is selected before him? Come on y’all!!!”
During the playoffs, Smith reported that an unnamed source told him that Brown’s attitude has affected his marketability in a negative way.
“Jaylen Brown, it’s not so much that he’s underrated,” Smith said in May. “It’s that he’s just not liked because of his ‘I am better than you’ attitude. He knows it. It’s the same reason he is not as marketable as he should be.”
“That’s what an NBA source just sent me. I don’t know that to be the case,” Smith added. “I like Jaylen Brown, I know a lot of poeple like that like Jaylen Brown, but again, when you think about marketability, that’s what that person is alluding to.”
Brown responded on X by telling Smith to state his source. Smith told Brown that he wouldn’t do that, and then proceeded to comment in response to Brown’s recent tweet about Nike.
Brown, who won this year’s Eastern Conference Finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP, was left off of both the All-NBA team and the Olympic team. He did make the NBA All-Star team for the third time in February.
The Celtics are heavily represented on Team USA, with three of the 12 players on the roster. Teammates Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday made the original cut, while White was picked to replace Leonard.
Nike is a major sponsor of USA Basketball. USA Basketball director Grant Hill said that the final call to leave Brown off the team was made by USA Basketball, not Nike. Hill said it was his responsibility and that he was trying to pick the pieces that would give Team USA the best chance to win.
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